Beyond The League
by Waltermis
Summary: Futurefic: The team are now all in the Justice League, but with being a superhero, starting a family and having sidekicks, life was never going to be easy for Wally West and Artemis Crock- or their friends. This is their legacy. AU: Spitfire/Waltermis (Wally & Artemis), Chalant (Dick and Zatanna) & SuperMartian (Conner & M'gann)
1. Speedforce

**I have decided to restart this fanfic. Please review on how you think I can improve, what you think of style and things that you might like to see.**

 **This is a story about the lives of the team following the end of Season 2, that revolves primarily around Wally West and Artemis Crock, though it will defiantly have circulation around other members as well.**

 **This fanfic is more or less a RESTART of my former fanfic under the similar name: 'A New Era Of Justice'.**

 **UPDATES will also be quite frequent so please do look out for those coming soon! I have so many ideas for this storyline and many intricate plots to portray.**

Broken cycles of lighting spontaneously erupted and crackled away as fast as they had come around the broken torso. The torn insignia of the once hero stained crimson with blood- merely a fragment of the emblem it had once been. The mantle of a Flash's thunderbolt denoted power and strength, though, these were traits currently not assigned to the fallen hero.

The storm sang a symphony of thunder, a speedster's song- you wouldn't understand. To understand one would have to have been a speedster in the first place. The scarlet trail, the blistering wind and the harmony of lighting- yes that was it. The storm, it resounded a music to his ears. Calling to him, begging him to stay. Clasping at his every being and yearning for his presence.

Wally knew he could not stay. His residency in this… dimension. This pocket universe, a causality of the Speedforce.

Speedforce.

Was that it? Had he fallen into the realm of timelessness and eternity? Wally had never questioned his exile, assuming only that it was beyond a reasonable explanation.

The storm flashed, emitting a rainbow of colours across the spectrum. It seemed that his line of questioning had provoked some sort of response.

The song of the Speedforce had changed, calling him. Wally reached out anxiously, inching his hand into the wild electric tornado that surrounded him. Leaving his residency at its epicenter, a haven from its turmoil, fuelled only by the resounding inclination of want.

Wally west wanted out. But not just out, he wanted more. He wanted to return to his friends, his family. But more than them, Wally West needed Artemis, the center of his universe. A constant to the variability of his life. Without her, he was simply broken.

His hand now fully immersed in the speed force, heeding the gravitation of its pull on him. He fought, flailing with any resistance he could possibly muster, but exhausted had gained the better of him. There was no energy left to push back. So resentfully, unwillingly, he submits, subconsciously aware of his submission's possible detriment. But life in the Speedforce had never been that great anyways. Was it really the worst thing if death claimed him. If this truly was the end of the road for him.

Only thought cycles through his mind, _'Fuck me, why are you such a bitch, West?'_

As he was pulled in completely to the storm, he heard no crackle of sound, no electricity course through him. Nothing.

Steeping through into a dark corridor, the walls grey with the only light provided from a doorway at the end of the hall. It's incandescence blinding, forcing him to squint as he edged closer, he could hear a voice calling and with it, a resounding familiarity. His strides gaining their pace into a brisk walk, he felt his being overflow with anticipation and somewhat excitement. His body flushed with warmth, perhaps of the warm light, or maybe due to the voice. It calmed him.

Stepping within a metre of the light, his eyes almost shut under its fluorescence, Wally overwhelmed with the nostalgia of his life. Was this it? Could this be his ticket home, after all this time…

Time.

Wally had no recollection of how long he had spent in the Speedforce, and with that realization, an impending sense of doom clasped at him. Not allowing him to step forward. Hushing his excitement and hyperbolizing his fears. The worry and nervousness of being lost in time sentenced his soul to despair. With that, Wally was suddenly hit with the suffocating realization that the life he had lived formerly was no more, he had missed a part of his life that he could never regain. Perhaps the pain of resuming it would be too great, but he had to, didn't he?

He had to at least try and come back. He owed that debt to himself.

The voice called out to him again, startling his train of thought and collapsing his sense of self-detriment. The voice was so loud and clear. It was blindingly obvious, more familiar than his own. The voice that he loved and had promised to love.

The voice of Artemis.

At that moment, his mind was cleared of all doubt. Wally had no uncertainty on what he had to do. His course of action was clear and precise. Wally had to get back home. He owed his heart the happiness and love it craved. The need for its soulmate.

" _Soulmate",_ he mentally scoffed at the idea. Wally West was not one to believe in such ardent dreams of soul mates and a life with a happily ever after ending. But he didn't care for the stupidity of the idea of a soulmate brought. Because they did exist. He was sure of it.

Artemis was and forever will be his everything.

The voice of Kent Nelson's resonating final words to Wally echoing throughout him: "Have faith in what cannot be explained, find your Spitfire and trust in love, it will guide you"

Wearily, he stepped forth, committing himself to the doorway of light, guided by the love that Kent Nelson had wanted him to follow in his final instruction to the speedster. His knowing that he was going the be reunited with his love that had seemed long lost is what fuelled him.

All he was greeted with upon leaving the ominous hallway was darkness and with it, a sweeping thought of hope.

Hope that juxtaposed the very meaning of darkness, and yet he was still warmed by the knowledge he would return home.

All the while the darkness enclosed, seeming to blacken beyond black and weight down on him. Wally felt the weight of time collapsing and flowing through his every nerve, as if he were a conduit for the Speedforce itself.

Moments of his life screened across his brain as if being played on a projector in front of him. All the while an epicentre to the chaos of the darkness which engulfed him.

Artemis.

She was the lightning rod to his storm, a means to ground the violent current that surged within his mind. Honing in on her face, her voice calling his name in spurted, ephemeral repetitions.

 _Wally… Wally… Wally…_

A meaningful passion behind her every call, an expression of her love. All the while her focused on this instance and he tumbled through time.

Time.

It slowed around him. Everything did, the storm fade, as did the voice of his lover. There was complete silence and then coldness.

A tangible coldness. Baring away at his skin. It felt like he had been lying naked in the snow- except that he had. Well, half naked. After all his uniform was only half destroyed.

"What the fuck" was all the scarlet speedster could mutter before the blackness ensued. But it was peaceful, other than a pounding headache that is. But peaceful none the less, for he had arrived home.

Three thoughts battled for dominance in Wally's mind.

 _Did I take magic mushrooms?_

 _How the fuck do I get back home now, from where ever I am… I hope the cold doesn't make my dick look too small_

Needless to say, his priorities were in order, but there was another, more powerful than the former two:

 _I need to find Artemis_

But his thoughts were cut short by the sound of an engine, which was pursued by footsteps. Several. Trudging, perhaps even running towards him as the misted air bit at his body, Wally writhed on the floor in a feeble attempt to get up in his wear daze.

He stumbled.

He slipped.

He fell unconscious to the steady beat of those footsteps and muffled voices.


	2. Return

**I currently have a dire need for Beta Reader's. Please PM me if you think you could help with that. As always enjoy the new instalment!**

Bright lights dazed the awakening speedster, and for a short second, Wally though that he had resigned once more to the Speedforce, unable to get home, but a quick glance around the clinical room proved otherwise.

The mattress which he lay on could onto be described as one which you would find in a hospital. It was uncomfortable with springs that stuck into his back, creating a small cramp, which with the help of a few stretches quickly resided.

The walls were painted while, with a black coffee table next to him, where a cup of tea lay waiting, hot and smoking. There was a chair next to his bed that had a phone resting on it. He paused at the idea that someone might come back to get it, but decided to pick it up regardless to get a glimpse at whose it might be. Perhaps they were his saviour, the owner of the heavy boots in the snow.

Upon pressing the home button a picture on the lock screen popped up of man with raven black hair, built and tall with his arms wrapped protectively around the waist of a woman in front of him. She also sported the same hair colour and an athletic build, with matching blue eyes, though hers were slightly brighter than the man's. The pair smiled at the camera, with the woman's hand raised gently to clasp the hands of her presumed partner.

There was something else. Wally was sure he had seen them before. He knew them.

Upon finishing his examination of the picture and the couple, he returned the phone to where he had found it originally and raised he gaze to meet the last person he had expected to see standing in the doorway.

Batman.

His cowl removed, his body poised upright, though something was off. Why did Bruce look so… young. Perhaps he had gone back in time or his time in the speed force had eschewed his memory of reality and his past life. Maybe Bruce had always looked like a 24 year old.

His mind raced for something to say. Something. Anything that would break the awkward silence that now hosted the room between the pair. They just started at each other for a few seconds- or was it minutes. Wally really couldn't tell.

Then, with all the power he could muster, Wally willed himself to say what must have been one of the most defining sentences of his life. "This your phone?", his voice sounding foreign to his own ears. _Perhaps because when you're in the Speedforce you can't tell if you're talking or just thinking, it all felt the same_ , he thought to himself.

The shoulder of the dark knight dropped a little, relaxing his stance, "Yes", he replied, pausing for a moment before he continued, somewhat dumbfounded by Wally's line of questioning. "Wally it's been a while, where did you go?", Batman continued stepping closer, placing his hand on Wally's shoulder.

He recoiled slightly at the touch of the Dark Knight. One thing ran through Wally's mind:

 _Is this some kind of fucked up dream, is batman going to seduce me? I swear this is how all the porn I used to watch played out. Back the fuck up Bruce_

His mouth however told the dark knight of his time in the Speedforce and how he had escaped, all the while willing for Bruce to stop being weird and remove his hand from his shoulder.

The Dark Knight had a tear in his eye, at which point Wally was really freaking out.

 _The Dark Knight wasn't a pussy_ , he thought to himself.

They were never really that close anyways, he had always been too scared to talk to Batman to befriend him, plus he was the adoptive father of his best friend, Dick.

Dick.

Wally's eyes widened.

Of course.

He re-examined the hero's uniform, his eyes greeted with an array of new adjustments. Heavily armoured with new mechanical adjustments to the utility belt and the obvious use of electrical engineering into the suits lining gave it away.

Bruce was never one for the fancy uniforms. He had always kept it light, mobile and basic. His best friend however, was a whole different story. Overloaded with the suspicion that his best friend was stood right in front of him, Wally's mind started racing for the next thing to say.

"Robin? – I mean Nightwing, err Batman… Fuck sake, DICK?!"

He exclaimed, building to a crescendo towards the end of the sentence, obviously in anger at the lack of ability to formulate a coherent sentence and get out what he wanted to say.

"It's me Wally", he replied, a smile spreading across his face, as he pulled his friend into a hug, laughing at the sudden outburst and overflowing with joy at his friend's recognition of him.

Within a few seconds Dick pulled Wally out of the bed onto his feet, where Wally realized that he was not wearing his uniform. Instead he was dressed in his civilian clothes. A black leather jacket and Henley t-shirt, matched with jeans and his favourite pair of Timberlands.

"The others can't wait to see you Wally, they're all here. We're been waiting for you to wake up for the last day"

Dick lead his friend through the winding hallways past a variety a superheroes, some were familiar faces, but most were new.

"Dick", Wally started, looking around at the unfamiliar building.

 _Where was he?_

Dick knew that the questions that would soon ensue, he didn't want to answer them, but he had to. He knew that he did, for Wally's sake

"What's the date… and where the hell are we", he asked, unsure if he wanted to know, because if the grim look plastered to his friend's face was anything to go by, then the answer would not be what he wanted to hear. He could tell his friend had aged since he saw him last. He had filled out, but so had Wally. Both were broader, taller and more grizzled than when they had seen each other last, the frightful differences to Dick scared Wally. How long had it been since his time on Earth? How long had the Speedforce held him captive?

"We're on the Watchtower, Wally. The league's base of operations… The team runs it now. We're in charge", refusing to go into further detail and ignoring the first question.

His answer had only opened up more questions to Wally and he could tell that Dick had avoided the first question, but why? And why did the team now run the league? What had happened in his time away from earth?

Wally decided to leave those questions for later and just pursue the one which had already gone unanswered.

"Dick, what is the date today", his heart rate shooting through the roof, his fear of the answer shooting through the roof.

"Wally you were gone a while-"

"Please, just tell me"

Silence resumed between the pair idly staring at each other, one waiting for the answer that the other feared to deliver.

"It's the 29th March 2020, Wally. You were gone for four years", the dark knight squinted his eyes, watching his friend, calculating his response. There was none. Wally's mind was racing at light speed, he began to shake uncontrollably. Lightning splintering off his form in all directions, phasing his body until it was merely a blur, almost invisible.

Batman raised his cape in an attempt to shield the bright incandescence of the lightning crackling from the speedster from blinding him. Wally almost forming a ball of light heard the muffled calls of his name, entranced with the fateful reality of his time away.

He had been gone for four years. He had missed four years of his life. Four years of time that he could have spent with the love of his life. But the calls grew louder and eventually broke through to him. His excited state returned to a standstill as he look palely at Dick, who look on at wally agape.

 _Well, the speed force definitely made him more powerful_ , Dick though, mentally kicking himself for having claimed something so obvious, even if it was just a thought. He need to be there for Wally. Standing and starting didn't quite classify as helping his best friend who had just been stuck in a temporal dimension in his books.

"Don't worry, like I said. We're all here for you buddy", he smiled gently at his friend, who returned the gesture, pausing for a second and then replying.

"Better get going to see the others, I hate to keep them waiting", he smiled, the only response, a gentle chuckle.

Dick lead the pair through the hallways, explaining the upgrades that they had since made to the League's base of operations in the years following his disappearance, including the cafeteria, which Wally had found to be his favourite place on the former Watchtower, and something told him that this time, it wouldn't be any different.

They neared the double steel doors that lead into the conference room, usually used only for the founding seven and their meeting on the future of the justice league, but on this occasion, it was the apprentices, well former apprentices who occupied the space. Greeting each of his friends in turn, Wally exchanged with hugs with them all. Even Conner, who now wore the superman uniform hugged the red headed speedster. Had everyone taken on their mentor's roles? Zatanna, who Wally now realized must've been the girl on Dick's phone picture, Kaldur, who aliased as Aquaman, M'gann and Bart, who now hosted the mantle of the Flash were all now commanding members of the League.

But there was still 2 people missing.

 _Where was Artemis?_

 _Where was Barry?_

The concern on his face voiced his trouble without a word having to be spoken. Whilst a wave of faces turned towards him in worry, it was Zatanna who asked the group whether they should tell him.

Tell him what? What had happened to Barry and Artemis- and the other league members at that? Had they all retired? Or Worse… Wally feared it was worse.

"Wally", began Dick, stepping forward, looking sympathetically at his friend, sat on the chair in front of him.

"After your…", he struggled to find the words, "Departure, Barry thought you were dead. We all did. But after you sacrificed yourself to stop the reach invasion, we gained intelligence that there was another threat coming, one that is far greater than the Reach".

The group looked around, evidently is dismay about what was about to be said, and anxious about what his response was going to be after having learned about the incident in the hallway just moments prior.

"His name was Darkseid. He killed Barry", interjected Conner before Dick could continue. A growing frustration emerged over the former boy wonder's face as he continued.

"- Not just that, there's more. The reason for all of this. For us becoming the League commanders, for everything. Barry didn't see a reason to live anymore. His protégé, a man he treated like his son had just vanished. He convinced the league to go on the offensive with Darkseid. They left 3 years ago on that mission, and never returned. We triangulated relay frequencies from their ship, and it's idle", he stopped for a moment preparing to continue his explanation of the events.

Wally look from Dick to Bart, almost pleading them to tell him that they were okay. For his cousin to offer some lifeline and tell him that they had returned, or for Dick to let Wally know that the Leaguers were safe, but stranded. He wasn't stupid. He knew what this meant. Their ship wasn't moving, and it was galaxies away. The league members were dead.

Barry was dead.

That was why they had to step forth into their mentor's roles, because if they hadn't then no-one would and that would have forsaken the world.

"Wally, our best guess is that they're dead. They would've returned by now. We can only hope that they took Darkseid down with them"

His heart felt empty at knowing that he would never see his Uncle again. Knowing that he had breathed his last breath and that Wally would never get to sit with him and just talk. His Uncle Barry, the man who had practically raised him, taken him into his Central City mansion and brought Wally up as his own son when his parents had kicked him out.

He could feel his hearts emptiness, only for it to be opposed with the yearning to have those 4 years of his life back. He had been cheated out of a part of his life and was still unaware of what had happened to Artemis.

 _Was she dead too?_

Zatanna must've taken on the Martian's abilities, because for the second time that day she expresssed the question that he had been afraid to ask.

 _Where was Artemis?_

"Wally, we don't want to just avoid the elephant in the room", she started, looking around at the group for some moral support, they just watched her, wondering how she might break the news, whilst wally looking at her patiently- or perhaps impatiently, his neutral expression gave nothing away. Though his longing eyes told her that this was something he needed to know, and something that if she was being honest with herself, he was bound to find out anyways. It was not the crushing pain of Barry's loss, though it would hurt nonetheless and maybe it would be too much for the speedster to handle all in one go. They were offering him a lot to take in during such a short period of time. She wondered if Wally held the emotional capacity to deal with it all.

Of course, she intended this by no fault of his own. Anyone who had just been resurrected from another dimension and then burdened with the reality of the death of a family member and the loss of 4 years of their life would and should be greatly affected by such news. Her only qualm with the situation lay in the notion that no normal person would be able to handle such tragedies, especially when placed on them in the way they had.

Zatanna silenced her mental dialogue and sighed gently before reconnecting her eye contact with Wally to find him waiting just as patiently as what he had been when she started her explanation.

She knew it was for the best.

 _Wally is strong, he can handle this. Besides, he's not in this alone. He has all of us for support, even Artemis._

The magician knew that even with the archer's situation she would do anything she could to help the speedster. God knew that she had never gotten over him, but things were different now.

Things had changed.

"Artemis is alive Wally", she resumed her speech, cut off only by the sound of his sigh of relief at knowing that his lover was still breathing. She looked around the room once more and received supportive nods from the group.

Perhaps this was a matter best told privately, but she had already begun to tell him and she knew that postponing the information would not hurt him any less, or comfort her anymore.

"She's engaged Wally. She met a guy at work. A reporter, who works with her called Callum", she said stepping forward into a hug with the speedster, embracing him and holding him tight as if to stop him from running away.

Wally would not run.

He sat there.

Still.

In shock.

 _I preferred the speed force_ , he thought to himself

It felt as if the world was bearing down upon his shoulders, and as it collapsed, he watched fragments of his former life shattering in front of him.

"Does it help that he's a cunt?", Dick offered, smiling weakly at his friend, who once again returned the gesture.

Filled with exhausted Wally ambled toward his living quarters on the Watchtower. Dick had wanted to do some testing on his speed, as his powers had grown since they last met. But that would wait for later, right now, devastated and broken, Wally could hear his bed calling his name and with it the cafeteria.

 _Sleep, then food_ , Wally told himself. If had been a long time since he had done either, and really, he needed both.

xxx

 _Click, Click, Click_

The rapid succession of fingers gracefully dancing across the keyboard rattled though out the building, and her office was no different. The keys dancing to their on gentle tune, bobbing up and down under the pressure of slender fingers, her hair fell tentatively down her back, softly resting with a gentle blonde glow as the evening sun lit her mane from the window behind her.

Her mind raced for ideas, the article was due in at the end of the day the get checked over briefly before the Sunday paper was printed. It was the end of the work week, and the beginning of her weekend, but for Artemis Crock, lead Journalist of the Daily Planet, there was no end to her work.

Both occupations exhausted any spare time she had. And any time that she found herself free, well, that's time that she would spend with him.

He being her boyfriend, well, fiancée really, and he was the walking over to her office now, a smile plastered across his face, ready for their dinner reservations this evening. But she was not. Artemis Crock had work to finish. She begged his walk to slow or for the restaurant to push back their reservation. She wanted to spend time with him, but what she wanted more was time.

Time.

Isn't that what everyone needs? Well, she certainly did. Time to do everything that she needed to and time to fit the rest of her life in. Time to spend time with him, and he was her boyfriend. Her boyfriend named Callum.

She had agreed to marry him, he ticked all her boxes: handsome, funny, kind, and caring. He had all the characteristics of her perfect man, but something had felt missing, but she had no idea what it was, not for lack of trying.

But it was time to settle down. Artemis had landed a great job at her dream company, she was 24 years old and a senior league member. Everything that she had ever hoped for in starting her new life had come true. Well, not everything.

He was gone.

Not Callum, her boyfriend, whom she was supposed to love.

No.

The man she truly loved, and had lost as a result of his love how her. His want to save her, everyone.

The he who had shown her the true meaning of love. What passion and obsession truly was. Wally West had completed her. But no one got everything they wanted, right? She should be happy with what she had. Sometimes you had to settle and she looked up at the man now by her door, she forced a smile.

She had become good at pretending.

Pretending she was okay.

Pretending that she wasn't lost.

All the while her heart yearned for her lost speedster. He wasn't coming back she told herself as her boyfriend opened the door.

 _Click, Click, Click_

Her tapping resumed, suddenly so engrossed with her article on the share prices of Star Labs after their newly signed tender with the Department of Defence. They were now one of the largest military and Scientific Research Organizations in the World.

Wally was supposed to have taken it over after Barry retired she thought to herself.

He was everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

 _Wally West is gone_ , she told herself. It didn't ease the pain.

Not in the slightest.

"Hey, Art", he smiled. She cringed at the nickname. He couldn't call her that. That was Wally's name for her. She hated when he used it, but the façade had to be held intact.

"Hey", she replied quickly, not looking up from the computer screen in front of her.

"I'll be ready in a second. I just need to finish putting my sources in", she continued, looking up briefly to offer a quick smile before once more resuming her tapping.

 _Click, Click, Click_

The sound offered no solace from the awkward atmosphere that lingered in the air between the couple. Callum retreated slowly to the far corner of her office, where a coffee table and sofa lay, immaculate with the cushions laid in size order.

Her compulsive cleanliness a slight irritation to the man.

 _Why did everything have to be perfect_ , he asked himself in disarray at the complicated blonde sat across the room from him, sat there racing her hands across the keyboard.

He knew if he messed it up, it would unleash a monster, so gently he relaxed himself into the seat, ensuring that he left no creases where he sat. He knew that although she wasn't turned to look his way, she knew what he was doing using the eyes on the back of her head, and watching him like a hawk. Nothing escaped Artemis.

"You ready to get going?", he asked her after a short while, offering his hand to her. She got up slowly, ensuring that he computer was turned off and shutting down the monitor.

Artemis shuffled slowly over to him, moaning that she was tired. His reply was on a short chuckle.

"We're not missing the reservation tonight, it's too late to cancel", he followed, kissing her cheek and leading her out the office.

Leading her to their dinner date.

Artemis followed with the growing uncertainty on whether she wanted to marry this man. She knew she didn't love him in the same way she loved Wally. She had a caring, non-passionate love for Callum, much like in the way one would love their pet. She just wanted _someone_. She had thrown on a mask. He didn't know her, really. He didn't know of her other life and her adventures.

Wally did.

Wally knew everything.

She had to get him out of her mind, she had to move on. Why was he on her mind so much? It didn't make any sense.

Something had changed, and Artemis knew it.

She just had no idea what _it_ was.

xxx

Finishing his 10th and probably final burger, Wally West sat back in his chair. Reclining gently into the plush comfort of leather, which he definitely preferred to the former plastic chairs of the Justice League canteen. With everything going on in life, Wally smiled to himself. Food made him feel all warm and fuzzy.

If the food was good then life was good: that was his life's motto.

Reaching forward to drink his coffee, Wally groaned at having to shift the weight of the 10 burgers he had just eaten. It wasn't easy being so hungry all the time.

The aches of his time in the Speedforce now subsiding, lucking. Speed healing had always come in handy, when you were as accident prone as what Wally had been- or still is.

"It's fine I didn't want a burger anyways", called out a familiar voice behind him and the voices footsteps drew nearer and his best friend, Dick Grayson, in full Batman attire slid into a chair opposite him.

His smile shifting to a sterner look as his lips pursed, "We have worked to do", he continued, "You're faster. I want to see how much faster. We want to run some diagnostics. Usually it would have been done straight away, but given your… special circumstance, I thought it best that we leave it for a little bit later", he gestured for Wally to stand up, offering a gentle smile, a hint of the former Dick he had known before returning once more to the façade of his Dark Knight fallen mentor.

"We've got a lot of work to do", Dick started as he lead Wally again through the corridors of the Watchtower, which Wally was becoming slightly more accustomed to after a few tours that he had given himself.

They arrived in what could only be described as being an arena, in shape and build it matched the velodrome, with the slight different that there was what Wally assumed to be millions of dollar worth of computational equipment in the a small control room situated off towards the back of the space.

"I call this the speed lab", Dick claimed, evidently proud of his creation. It was evident in his eyes.

Wally simply stood there, still, mouth wide agape as he shuffled himself to the start of the track.

"Wally, myself and Atom will be monitoring you from the control room", pointing to the room that Wally had already acknowledged upon his entry. The speedster nodded at Atom, who waved cheerfully at him, his mouth formed a cheesy smile, teeth and all.

"So, what? You want me to just run?", he asked his friend, unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do.

"Yes", the Dark Knight replied, "But against him", gesturing towards Bart who must've silently entered the room behind them, and winked at his cousin.

"Come on Bats, I'm way too fast for this guy. It's not even a real race", called out the younger speedster looking up to the control room where the Dark Knight stood.

Wally flipped his cousin off, "Alright kid, let's see about that", Wally retorted. Bemused by the exchange, Batman and atom shared a chuckle, before calling them to the finish line and beginning their countdown after having placed trackers on their wrist to measure their vitals and most importantly their speed.

 _Speed_ , thought Wally.

He looked over at his cousin in a matching Flash suit, realizing that he cousin had claimed the mantle. He felt sorry for the teenager, for all the stress he must have gone through, but his mind cleared as he heard Batman reach 1.

In the second between "1" and "Go", Wally had electrocharged his cells, electricity charging his very essence, jolting his being with energy. He felt the conduits of boundless energy surge through him, like some apparition of speed. Tinged with streaks of white, orange and yellow lighting he waited in stance for the word. The single word that would allow him to release his pend up energy. Energy that had boded for so long that it seemed to recede far within him, until now. It was all surfacing.

"Go", he heard the voice call over the microphone, and with that, Wally was off. Bursting in a streak of light. Bart was fast. He was faster than Wally had been, but something had changed.

Wally was different. He was faster.

He flew off in front of Bart, having lapped him several times, calling out for his younger cousin to eat his lighting trail. Even from Bart's perspective, Wally was running at super speed.

His movements leaving after images, behind his movements.

He pulled up pieces of flooring with the gravity of his movement. The relativistic effects of his speed had increased him mass, tending it towards infinite weight, and with it, creating a gravitational pull. He sparked electricity around the room in which he ran, seeming to teleport between jolts of lighting.

The contrails of light brushed past the control room, both fast, but one evidently outshining the other. Wally West truly was the fastest Flash.

In that moment, when he was running, he felt at peace, his world subsided. For the first time in a while, Wally West knew that he was going to be okay.

He stopped upon command from the voice over the loudspeaker.

Wally West had definitely gotten faster.

"You're only faster because you've been juicing on speed force. That's basically like taking roids, you should be disqualified!", he cousin complained. Clearly Bart Allen wasn't a graceful loser.

Dick and Atom stepped out from the control room after having run a few analytics, before stating the obvious.

"Fucking hell man, you're quick as fuck", grinned Dick, again forgetting his persona. Atom, just patting the speedster's shoulder.

"Pretty sure you're the fastest of all the Flashes, Wally. No one else had had Einstein's relativistic effects act on them before. You must've been running at least Mach 150", Atom concluded.

 _Mach 150? Was that even possible?_ Wally wondered.

Instead of questioning the results, an ever so eloquent "Shit then", escaped his mouth, causing the group to erupt with laughter, even his jealous cousin, who now saw the benefits of his cousin's new speed.

"We could do it together man! You, me. Flash and Kid Flash. Show me how the way to ride the Speedforce wave. It'd be crash dude!", his younger cousin exclaimed.

Wally smiles back at him, he hadn't thought much about what he was going to do after coming back, he had no idea what was in store for him, but Wally West knew that whatever it was, he wasn't about to leave the League.

It that meant becoming the Flash, then so be it. Sure, he wanted his Uncle to give the mantle to him personally, but that wasn't possible, and someone had to fill his boots. Bart was too young, he was just a kid. He needed someone to guide him, mould him into the great hero he could become.

Wally knew he wanted to take up the offer. He would choose to become the Flash.

It felt great to have the ability to choose again. It was a benefit that had long been absent from his life. Something that be welcome back with open arms.

"Let's do it", he grinned at his cousin, who clasped his arms around Wally, pull his into a hug. Bart must've really missed him. Wally knew that he had missed Bart. The pair were reunited again. They had all been reunited again.

All but one, but he knew he would see her soon. He'd make sure of it.

Glad to hear of the news, and with Atom having already left, Dick pulled his friend into a hug as well. He was beyond happy to have him back. He was afraid Wally would turn his back on the hero life, like he had some 4 years ago.

He was excited to know that his fears would not become a reality.

Wally West was not going to leave any time soon.

But his mind was suddenly occupied with something other than the jubilation of his return, because for but a fleeting second, he thought something. No, not something, it was her.

A trace a distinguishable trace blonde hair green uniform vanished around the corner into another part of the Watchtower.

It's disappearance snapping him from his spell. Broken from his mesmerisation, Wally returned back to reality enjoying his conversation with his cousin and friend about everything and anything.

But Wally knew beyond any doubt what he had seen. Who he had seen.

How could he possibly be mistaken? He knew that blonde hair anywhere.

Artemis was here.

xxx

Why was he playing on her mind so much? Wally hadn't been a part of her life for so long yet, he was still finding his way look the nooks and crannies of the shelter she had put up to protect herself form the emotional turmoil that had always come when she thought of him.

Artemis simply couldn't formulate a reason as to what could have triggered him remembrance. It wasn't a special day for the couple. It was an ordinary Friday.

Unwilling to deal with the exhaustive memories, the archer ambled towards her quarters aboard the Watchtower. Today had been _shit_. More than that. It is _mega-shit_ , _ultra-shit_ even, but only if such words actually existed.

Her date with Callum had been awful. She couldn't concentrate on him at all with her lover on her mind. How could she? It would be stupid to think that the man she was set to marry could ever live up to the expectations set by her Red-headed, quick-witted, loving speedster boyfriend, former boyfriend. The idea of him not being around, still sour in her mouth, leaving a stinging pang and longing for him to come back to her.

Though her soliloquy was short lived, because as soon as she reached to pick up her tea there was a knock at her door.

Grumbling slightly, he meandered across the room, swaying her arms at her side, striding the final few steps and lifting her expression into a half smile. Her façade resumed.

Opening the door, she was greeted by Zatanna Zatarra, the playboy, well, former playboy billionaire, Dark Knight's girlfriend, smiling to herself her summary of Dick Grayson.

"What're you laughing at", asked the raven-haired beauty standing before her, narrowing her eyes, a smirk plastered across her face.

"Hey to you too, and it's nothing", replied the archer, still thinking about her quiet joke.

"I've been trying to get hold of you the whole day", began the magician, "busy were we?", she questioned, wiggling her eyebrows.

"No!", cried the archer in mock disgust, a smirk appearing across her face at the insinuation laid by her best friend.

"Actually", she continued, looking to the Zatanna for a second. Piquing her friend's interest is her hesitation to continue, "I've been thinking about Wally. Something doesn't feel right. It's as if… I don't know. Maybe something happened?", claimed with archer, not really expecting an answer, she implied the question to be rhetorical. A facet for her train of thought. A way for her to suggest the impossible, without committing herself to the idea of Wally.

His survival.

Her instinctive inkling at something, a foresight into the future. A glimpse at the actuality of which she was unaware.

Artemis Crock had no clue that Wally West was alive.

"Come with me", replied the magician in faux sombre, attempting to mask her excitement at what the League had just previously found earlier that day.

"Artemis", Zatanna begun, "Dick's been monitoring satellites for high tachyon energy reading for the last 4 years. This morning we had a spike at the epicentre of the former Reach invasion in Antarctica. I don't really know how to say thing but…", she hesitated, pausing to find the words that she searched for.

"We found something", she finished. Kicking herself for the vagueness, but the archer would see soon enough.

She would find out the truth.

"Something?", Artemis replied, unsure of how to respond to Zatanna's outbreak.

"Just come with me", Zatanna responded, leading her friend thought the carcass of the Watchtower towards the control room.

She had just seen Wally here a few moments earlier talking to Dick about something or other, and sure enough there he was. His back turned. But there was no mistaking the red headed man in the Flash suit stood in front of damn.

Artemis's eyes focused, narrowing in on the body in front of her. Denying and rejoicing the possibility that he was there.

He was truly there.

"Wally?", the blonde whispered so quietly that she questioned herself whether the words had actually ever escaped her lips. Unsure of if the man in front of her had heard her she reached out to touch his shoulder, but the body spun around.

It was him.

Wally was really there.

Standing in front of her.

His eyes widened, piercing her with his green stare, understanding her.

"Artemis", he replied.

Their exchange only 2 brief words, the calling of each other's names, but those few words were all that was needed to solidify their love.

He loves the sound of his name as it escaped from her soft lips, and she from his. Edging slightly closer Wally could feel her gravity pulling at him towards her.

Artemis was unable to move her limbs, she wanted so badly to go to him, willing her body to obey her command, but it didn't. It simply wouldn't listen. She was frozen, awaiting his soft touch.

Reaching slowly the speedster compelled his body to savour this moment. This moment where he knew she was the one. Where he saw their future together, vast and vivid. No doubt clouded their minds that this moment, right here is what they had dreamed of. That this, was the happiest that a person could be.

As his hand reached her skin, as if by magic, if Wally had ever believed in such things his touch relinquished whatever fateful paralysis she was under. Softening at his warm touch, her eyes fixated on his, Artemis gently nuzzled her cheek into his palm. Closing her eyes. Willing for the moment to last a life time.

This is where she wanted to be.

With Wally West.

She absorbed his look. Memorizing the contours of his body in moments. Drawing attention to his lips. His mouth held slightly agape, with his lips gently moistened, wet and smooth, beckoning for hers to join them. For them to link and cement their reunion.

He neared himself, shuffling closer to blonde beauty stood before him. Their noses almost toughing. The storm within her deep grey eyes, subsided. Washed with tints of blue, resonating a pathetic fallacy of calmness, but something more. Something deeper.

Love.

He was sure of it.

Her silky blonde hair fell gently over his hand, slipping it in between his fingers, exalting in the hot fresh breath that escaped her mouth. Feeling the heaving of his chest against his.

 _This is it West. No going back now_ , he told himself.

Artemis's mind was blank, racing, yet no single though focused on. Her mind didn't want to think. It wanted to act.

Their lips connected, gently massaging over the other. His tongue pressed gently on her lower lip, though he wanted no entry. Instead, he drew circles on her lips with his tongue. She felt so soft under his touch.

Artemis's knees began to wobble, her frame not supporting itself under the passion of the kiss.

It felt so good.

Easing into his lips, she sighed, afraid to break apart, for fear of losing him. Her Wally, who had come back for her.

Easing their lips apart, they never broke contact Wally, held her close, his heart beating against her ear. She could hear it racing though his muscles chest as her arms wrapped around his thick.

 _Fuck me, he's so big now_ , she thought to herself, smiling into his body, and gently kissing his arm.

The room had grown silent, but a quick whoop from Zatanna had set off a group cheer. Attaboy's and woot's were thrown around the gathered crown.

But they took no notice of their audience.

Wally looked down, and Artemis looked up.

Their eyes connecting, both knowing that this is the sight they wanted to see every morning.

Wally had finally come to believe in soul mates, the heart's realization of its counterpoint in the existence of another.

Artemis had provided that completion.

For the first time in over four years, the couple felt complete, embraced in the love of one another and each was fuelled by the drive to experience the other for the rest of their lives.

Wally had finally returned home.

 **N.B. Anything you want me to change/ improve in chapters going forward? Leave a review and let me know!**


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